Seeds that sprout as soon as they are planted have no problem in a garden, but they could be in grave danger in the wild.
In the wild, a plant that sprouts during the first warm days or a heavy rainfall could be subjecting themselves to late frosts and other factors, a National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) news release reported.
A research team also found that seedlings that lie dormant for longer are more likely to spur a rise in their species.
"They're like babies. They don't have protective thorns or woody tissue any of the other defenses that are more typical of adult plants yet, "co-author Rafael Rubio de Casas of the Universidad of Granada in Spain, said in the news release.
These "babies" can stay in their seed in a state of "suspended animation" for years on end. The 2000-year-old seed of a date palm tree was found to be in this state of dormancy after being excavated from an Israeli fortress.
The researchers looked at data taken for over 40 years that encompassed " 14,000 species of trees, shrubs, vines and herbs from across the globe," the news release reported.
The researchers mapped this data onto the seed family tree; they found the plants that were able to regulate their germination timing in response to the environment were more likely to spawn new species.
"Having the capacity to fine-tune their development to the environment seems to be crucial for diversification," de Casas said.
Seed dormancy helps plants colonize plant species by keeping seedlings from sprouting at times when survival chances were low.
"Our results suggest that even the earliest seeds had this ability," de Casas said.
Plants that have lost their ability to stay dormant as seedlings are believed to be more prone to extinction than those that have not.
